Opening from Parametra

Why there is a second door

The recent-projects list and the browse button on the launch screen are both a listing of Documents/iCity 2 on this machine. A project that has never been here is invisible to them, even when every byte of it sits in your account: a colleague's project, or your own after a reinstall or on a second computer.

Open From Parametra is the other door. It asks the server what your account can open, downloads the one you choose into Documents/iCity 2, and then hands off to exactly the same code that opens a project you picked from disk.

Opening the dialog

The cloud button sits on the launch screen, in the segmented bar under the logo: New Project, then the cloud, then the folder-browse button. Its tooltip reads “Open a project from Parametra, including shared ones”.

The launch screen only appears when no project is open and the scene holds no city. If you are already in a project, close it first with the X button in the bottom-right of the footer (“Close the project”). The dialog also needs a 3D viewport in the iCity 2 workspace; if there is none it says so instead of doing nothing.

You have to be signed in. With no token the list comes back empty and the dialog reads “You are not signed in.” See Signing in.

Finding the project in the list

The search box filters by project name and description. Beside it are three icon buttons: the filter, the key, and refresh. Refresh (“Read the list again from Parametra”) discards the cached list and the cached version labels and asks the server again.

The filter is a set of checkboxes, not a choice of one. Tick two and you see both. With nothing ticked you see everything and the line under the search box stays blank; tick something and it reads “Showing:” followed by the filter name, or “2 filters”.

Each row carries a badge on the far right saying what kind of project it is: a person icon for “Your project”, a building icon for “An organization project”. Click along the row name to expand it. The panel underneath shows only fields the server actually returned — the description, the organization name, Created, Last change, Owner.

Rows you cannot open have no open arrow. In its place is a padlock button whose tooltip reads “Ask an administrator for access to <name>”. Organization projects are listed even when you cannot open them, on purpose — otherwise there would be nothing to ask about.

Picking a version

A dropdown appears to the left of the action button when the project has more than one version, or when you cannot open it. It lists the project's versions newest first as v2.1, v2.0, v1.0 and so on, fetched from the server the first time you need them, one project at a time. On a row you cannot open, the dropdown starts on “All versions” — that is the scope you are asking access for, not a version to download.

Leave the dropdown on the newest version unless you have a reason not to. Anything older downloads read-only: the folder gets a checkout marker, .icity2-checkout.json, recording which version it holds, and Sync refuses while that marker is there.

this folder is showing version 1.0, so it is read-only — open the latest version to make changes

The refusal exists because Sync uploads into the project's latest version prefix. Without the marker, pushing a checked-out old snapshot would write older files over the newest work. Opening the latest version again clears the marker and the folder is a working copy once more.

What opening actually does

1. Press the open arrow on the row; its tooltip reads “Download <name> and open it”. The dialog reads “Fetching <name>…”, then counts the files as they arrive.
2. The files land in Documents/iCity 2/<name>. If this machine already holds that project the same folder is refreshed in place — it is found by the id in its project.json, not by its name, so a renamed folder does not become a second copy. Only a different project whose name is already taken gets a (2) suffix.
3. The version marker is written, then project.json. If any file failed to download, neither is written and the dialog reports the failure — a half-downloaded folder never gets an identity it could sync its emptiness back with.
4. The dialog closes and the project opens by the same path as one picked from disk: the previous session ends, this project becomes active, and its assets.json selection is re-applied to the design cards.
5. The saved city state is restored and the engine restarts on it — the engine reads that state only when it starts, so opening a project has to restart it. If the folder carries outputs.csv, the theme outputs are linked on top a couple of seconds after the engine settles, so the city appears dressed as it was.

The download writes the server's files into the folder; it does not remove local files the server did not send. If a downloaded project ever looks like a mix of two, delete the folder and open it again.

Using an access key

Someone outside your organization cannot be added as a member, so the owner copies an access key for them instead. Redeeming it is a separate, one-time step: the key grants your account access, and after that you open the project the ordinary way.

1. In OPEN FROM PARAMETRA press the key button — the padlock icon between the filter and refresh, tooltip “Use an access key someone gave you”. The USE AN ACCESS KEY dialog opens.
2. Paste the key into the field marked access key. Its tooltip states the rule: “The key is used once and then stops working”.
3. Press Use key. On success a green line reads “You now have access to <name>.” and the log adds “Open it from the cloud button.” A key that has already been used, or was mistyped, gives “that key did not work”.
4. Press Close. The project list behind the dialog has already been marked stale, so the project is there when it redraws; press refresh if it is not, then open it like any other row.

You still have to be signed in to redeem a key — it attaches access to your Parametra account, it is not a way in without one. Keys are minted by the project owner, and the terms they carry are set when the key is created. See Sharing and access keys.

When nothing appears

An administrator's listing includes organization projects they are not themselves a member of, which is why some rows show a padlock even for an admin. Seeing a project in this list is not the same as being able to open it.

• —Nothing here downloads assets. A project opens against the asset library on this machine, so a theme referring to assets this machine has never had reports a fallback rather than failing silently. See Where assets live.
• —Opening a project does not touch your .blend. Save that separately if you want the meshes and the design state kept in it.
• —Still stuck: Troubleshooting.